Brainstorm Cafe

a sense of humor? modern society? social networking isolation? humor? comedy?

many of the people I know in stand-up comedy are in a quandary these days. a few have gone so far to not want to play colleges and universities because it doesn’t matter what they say in their act, someone will be offended by whatever is said. the 45 minutes set will simply be remembered for a 15-30 second sound byte.

perhaps that is simply why I think standup comedian might be the hardest job on the planet. you have to take a look at the depth of what humans do to each other In their worst behavior and get a room full of people to laugh about it – yet – plant a seed that people will see how that action or behavior can come into view, versus sweeping it under the carpet.

if you look at the news today, you have people being skewered for an event they did or said in life – sometimes 30-40 years ago and a sort of simplistic blanket judgment being thrown over them. I guess this is where I hope the ability to laugh at ourselves would not be repressed as everyone gets offended by anything. instead of seeing us all as human beings, flawed, imperfect and each of us working on issues and sometimes struggling to just get through the day – a strange double standard where the one making the accusation is considered “perfect” and the one getting skewered is “completely imperfect” with an accusation.

would it be too much to bring up complexity in comedy acts or the media these days? some of the most amazing good people I know still do dumb things. and yes, some of the folks that appear to be doing not much can rise to amazing levels of good if put in the space or given the chance.

what does this have to do with comedy? well, we can all keep blowing up the balloon of thinking one is perfect, righteous, better than, or superior to any other race, creed, color, or religion with the political correctness and the buzzwords of the day with “inclusiveness/sensitivity/gender/race/etc.” or we can look a step further and see each other as human beings, regardless of sex, creed, color, race, religion.

wait, that would force everyone to look at treating each other as we wished to be treated, no? the world would go into mass confusion because a lot of the world is fueled by fear and the monetization of pushing that fear to keep people paralyzed in it. I bet it could get so bad that you one day could not even laugh about it.

wait…is this not what is happening in American society and media today?

care to join me for a coffee?

"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." ~ Cyril Connolly

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